{"id":7230,"date":"2024-12-03T08:19:03","date_gmt":"2024-12-03T14:19:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/?p=7230"},"modified":"2024-12-03T08:19:03","modified_gmt":"2024-12-03T14:19:03","slug":"matthews-scores-first-goal-since-return-from-injury-maple-leafs-beat-blackhawks-4-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/2024\/12\/03\/matthews-scores-first-goal-since-return-from-injury-maple-leafs-beat-blackhawks-4-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Matthews scores first goal since return from injury, Maple Leafs beat Blackhawks 4-1"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Maple Leafs&#8217; Auston Matthews Scores First Goal Since Return from Injury, Beats Blackhawks 4-1<\/h1>\n<h2>Leafs&#8217; Star Player Returns to Form<\/h2>\n<p>Auston Matthews scored his first goal since returning from injury as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 on Monday night. Matthews, who missed nine games with an upper-body injury, opened the scoring in the first period before John Tavares, Fraser Minten, and Matthew Knies provided the rest of the offense for Toronto.<\/p>\n<h2>Strong Team Effort<\/h2>\n<p>Anthony Stolarz made 27 saves, and Mitch Marner had two assists in his 600th regular-season game. Lukas Reichel scored for Chicago, which has lost three straight, while Arvid Soderblom stopped 18 shots.<\/p>\n<h2>Matthews&#8217; First Goal Since Return<\/h2>\n<p>Matthews, 27, beat Soderblom five-hole off a slick William Nylander feed for his sixth goal of the campaign. The 27-year-old center had missed nine games with an upper-body injury before picking up two assists in his return to the lineup on Saturday in a 5-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.<\/p>\n<h2>Takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Leafs: Jake McCabe sat out after taking a puck to the head Saturday. Defensemen Max Pacioretty, Max Domi, Bobby McMann, David Kampf, and Calle Jarnkrok were also sidelined.<\/li>\n<li>Blackhawks: Connor Bedard, the top pick at the 2023 draft, entered with goals in two of his last three contests following a 12-game drought.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Key Moment<\/h2>\n<p>Matthews&#8217; goal, which came off a slick pass from Nylander, was a highlight of the game. The Leafs&#8217; star player had led the NHL with 69 goals last season.<\/p>\n<h2>Key Stat<\/h2>\n<p>The Leafs had the league&#8217;s second-best points percentage in November (8-3-1, .708). Toronto also allowed the fewest goals against \u2013 27, including just 15 at 5-on-5 \u2013 over that 12-game span.<\/p>\n<h2>Up Next<\/h2>\n<p>The Blackhawks start a two-game homestand against the Bruins on Wednesday, while the Maple Leafs host the Predators the same night.<\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>The Maple Leafs&#8217; victory was a much-needed boost for the team, with Matthews back in the lineup and contributing to the offense. The victory also extends the team&#8217;s winning streak to three games.<\/p>\n<h2>FAQs<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>When did Auston Matthews return to the lineup?\n<ul>\n<li>Matthews returned to the lineup on Saturday in a 5-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>How many goals has Auston Matthews scored this season?\n<ul>\n<li>Matthews has scored six goals this season.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>What is the current winning streak for the Maple Leafs?\n<ul>\n<li>The Maple Leafs have won three consecutive games.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maple Leafs&#8217; Auston Matthews Scores First Goal Since Return from Injury, Beats Blackhawks 4-1 Leafs&#8217; Star Player Returns to Form Auston Matthews scored his first goal since returning from injury as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 4-1 on Monday night. Matthews, who missed nine games with an upper-body injury, opened the scoring [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7230","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/wgntv.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2024\/01\/65aed64b036697.58732129.jpeg?w=900&w=900&resize=900,600&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7230"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7230"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7230\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7232,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7230\/revisions\/7232"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}